Rainforests have high average temperatures as they are always near the equator and they also have a significant amount of rainfall. Rainforests can be found in many countries such as; Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico and on many of the Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian Ocean islands. The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil but some of it is also in Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. In the Amazon rainforest there are more species of plants and animals than any other ecosystem on our planet and it inhabits over 50% of the world’s plant and animal kingdoms. Some of the most common animals found in the rainforest include the jaguar, tapir and lots of different types of monkeys. Along with the animal and plant species the Amazon also supports large groups of tribal people. These tribes have been affected by the modern-day convections and while they still hunt for food they have started growing crops and making regular trips to towns and cities to bring food to the markets. These tribal people are often called Amerindians. The emergent layer – the tallest trees are called the emergent and they can tower as much as 200 feet above the ground of the forest and their trunks can even reach up to 16 feet around. Most of these trees are broad-leaved, hardwood evergreens. They get a lot of sunlight and animals such as eagles, monkeys, bats and butterflies are found here. There are four layers in a rainforest: The canopy layer – this layer is the primary layer of the rainforest and constructs a roof over the two remaining layers of the rainforest. The majority of the canopy trees have smooth, oval leaves that come to a point. It’s basically a labyrinth of leaves and branches. Lots of animals live in this layer because the food is plentiful. These animals include; snakes, toucans and tree frogs. The understory layer – here there is only a small amount of sunshine due to the canopy layer above, so the plants here have to grow their leaves bigger in order for them to reach the sunlight. The plants in this layer rarely even grow to 12 feet, however lots of animals are found here such as jaguars, red-eyed tree frogs and leopards, there are also many insects here. The forest floor – there’s very little light down here, so as a result of this almost no plants grow in this area. With no light the things here begin to decay very quickly, for example a leaf that might take one year to decompose in a normal climate will disappear in 6 weeks. Fewer animals live in this area due to the unpleasant surroundings. One particular animal that lives here is the giant anteater. Nowadays the rainforests are facing terrible threats of dying out due to deforestation. Many people are cutting down the rainforests to farm their cattle, but the ground the rainforest grows on is different to most other soil and it doesn’t contain a lot of nutrients, this means that the crops don’t last long and the farmers cut down more and more of the rainforest trying to feed their cattle. * for more information on the rainforest visit our website